School for Deaf and Blind seeks about $10 million for upgrades

TALLAHASSEE | Repairing buildings and making construction upgrades makes up the meat of a funding request being pitched by the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine.

The school is asking for $9.7 million in construction money, a steep increase over the $1.4 million in Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget and the $1.6 million it got last year. The $1.4 million is the same amount requested by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the school’s budget.

“With that amount we would barley be able to touch projects needed to ensure safety-related repairs,” said Jeanne Prickett, the school’s president.

With the money, the school wants to fund preventive maintenance, repair projects and remain compliant with the American with Disabilities Act.

“That means we would be able to continue to keep up-to-date buildings and renovate obsolete areas,” Prickett told the House Appropriations Subcommittee during a Tuesday hearing.

Since 2008, the school’s construction funding has dropped by $11.8 million. The funding comes from the same shrinking pot of money used for higher education and k-12 projects. Lawmakers are working to overhaul the system, which is funded by taxes on certain communications and telecommunications.

Students on the School for the Deaf and the Blind’s 80-acre campus have increased from 585 to 610 over the past five years, officials said. Overall enrollment, which includes off-campus students, has increased from 904 to 989 over that time.

The school also is requesting an additional $3 million for 7 percent pay increases for teachers, specialists and support staff. Scott’s budget includes $480 million for pay raises for teachers at public school districts, but because the school is considered a state agency, its employees would not be eligible.

“We have 52 percent turnover in some areas,” said Terri Wiseman, the school’s administrator of business services. “We often lose them to St. Johns and Duval counties.”

More than 30 percent of the school’s staff makes less than $23,000 annually, Prickett told the committee. She said areas like business services, transportation and food service see the highest rate of turnover.

The committee, which writes the House’s education budget, is not short on requests for funding increases. Committee members also heard a request for $5.4 million in additional funding from the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, and a request for new state funding from a business program housed at the University of Miami.

Lawmakers will unveil their budget during the legislative session, which begins March 5.